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The agave takes 10 years to reach maturity and there are therefore only ten harvests per century. Each huge agave plant weighs 50 kilos (100 pounds) on average and 10 kilos (20 pounds) of agave are required to produce just one litre of agave spirit. By contrast, sugar cane, barley and grapes can be harvested at least once a year making rum, whisky and brandy rather less expensive to produce. At Destileria Porfidio, they steam-cook the agave plants for at least 24 hours.

Once the cooking cycle is complete, the softened agave fibre has to be pressed to separate the agave juices from the agave fibre. Press: As with ultra-premium olive oil, only the first pressing of the agave fibre is used for the production of Porfidio spirits.

In addition, Porfidio does not dilute the freshly squeezed agave juice during the pressing process as some manufacturers would, as this would reduce the quality of the agave juice. The agave juice derived from mature agave plants contains natural agave sugar, which is the basis for the subsequent fermentation process. The agave juice is brownish in colour and similar to coffee in appearance.

The agave juice is fermented by introducing micro-organisms, or 'good' bacteria, which convert the sugar into alcohol. 'Bad' bacteria would turn the agave juices into vinegar. The fermented agave juice has an alcoholic content of only 12% abv. Destileria Porfidio is the only factory in Mexico which implements quality fermentation in a rigorously controlled and therefore ideal environment.